Indian star swordsman and Olympian Bhavani Devi suffered a setback from the women's individual sabre class of the ongoing World Cup in Georgia. Along with her, other Indian players also suffered defeats and the Indian challenge is over. Bhavani ranked 55th in the world, got a bye in the 128th round but was defeated 15-8 by Spain's Elena Hernandez in the next round.
Bhavani, 28, from Chennai, is the first Indian woman swordsman to participate in the Olympics. She participated in the Tokyo Olympics 2021 and had to settle for four wins, 1 defeat and a draw in the group stage. Among other Indians, Anita Karunakaran and Joshna Christie have not reached the 128th rank. Karunakaran was defeated 15-3 by Russia's Daria Droid while Joshna was defeated by Spain's Aarseli Navarro by the same margin.
According to media reports, Bhavani Devi is likely to play the next World Cup in Bulgaria on January 28 and 29. This is followed by the World Cup in Greece on March 4 and 5 and Belgium on March 18 and 19.
Mauritius' Avinash to be first high performance director of weightlifting